Banned from Guild Wars 2? ArenaNet tells you why

Guild Wars 2 hasn't even been out for 48 hours yet, but the bans are already coming in. Developer ArenaNet has taken to Reddit to explain to users that their racism and homophobia will not be tolerated.

Guild Wars 2 (GW2) hasn't even been out for 48 hours yet, but the bans are already coming in. Developer ArenaNet has taken to Reddit to explain to users that their racism and homophobia will not be tolerated.

(Credit: CBSi)

If you've been banned from Guild Wars 2 and want to know why, ArenaNet is here to clear it up. In a thread posted to the Guild Wars 2 subreddit, it has offered users a chance to hear an explanation.

We want to clear up some of the confusion about GW2 name and behaviour suspensions. To keep Guild Wars 2 a pleasant place to be, we take action against racist names, hate speech and other unacceptable behaviour. We have suspended some accounts involved in the use of offensive character names or inappropriate chat. The number of account blocks is miniscule: less than .001 per cent of our total player base.

Users only have to post their character name or a chat, and the team offers an explanation as to why their ban occurred — and boy howdy, are some of them doozies of awfulness.

One user, by the character name of "lol", was told, "Name: OK. Chat — Not Ok: 'This isn't Africa, you don't adopt black kids'."

Another, "Chat: Not OK — Neurologic: 'the worm IS f**king hard if you're a f**king mentalpatient no we f**king dont you can take a keep with 5 people if you're not a f**king d**khead'."

For minority gamers, it's a thing of beauty, and absolutely encouraging that a game's administration is taking definitive steps towards making its environment comfortable and inclusive. We can only applaud ArenaNet for its policies — and for actually enforcing them in an effective manner.

Interestingly, though, many of the bans are through no fault of the player — already, gold sellers are hacking into accounts and ArenaNet is shutting them down quickly, in order to minimise the damage. If you think you may have been hacked, you can contact Guild Wars 2 support here for help.